Fallout Tactics: Brotherhood of Steel Interview
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GB: What are some of your favorite memories from working with the FoT team? Ed: It was a great team, and I'm glad that I'm still working with some of them. We had a lot of fun.
With that said, we were a pretty accident prone group. And violent. I hit Parrish (Lead Artist) on the shoulder with a hammer. I meant to do it lightly ( ? ), but I hit his collar bone and it made a nasty (clunk) sound. Musta hurt.
I broke both my wrists early in the development, but I was so keen to keep things going that I went in to a team meeting the next day. I was whacked out of my mind on painkillers I don't know what I said, but I'm pretty sure I looked goofy while saying it.
We had a lot of general shenanigans where we'd throw shit around the office, and somehow Lorne (Senior Artist) always managed to get hit right in the open eye. And Blaeghd (artist) used to like to somersault through doorways - I never did find out why. Most of the time he'd tumble into an obstacle like a filing cabinet or a desk and clock himself.
Good times...
GB: Were there any plans for a sequel? Or was Fallout Tactics meant to be a standalone title in the franchise?
Ed: I don't know if there were plans officially, but if I recall correctly we (Micro Forte) had documents outlining an entire new campaign, a new enemy type - I think it was Tony that came up with an awesome idea for a baddie - a description of the opening cut scene, possibly even staffing plans. It was reasonably advanced before I resigned.
GB: Any insight as to why the FoT team ultimately split up?
Ed: If you're referring to the retrenchments, you should be asking that one to the people that made the decision.
GB: What lessons were learned during the development of the game?
Ed: First, to have a clear, concise vision for the design from the beginning. I learned this because we didn't have it for Tactics, and I think the initial lack of focus meant that the end product wasn't as good as it could have been as a result. Don't get me wrong, I'm still extremely proud of what we created, but it could have been even better if we'd just embraced the (tactics) part of the game instead of also attempting to recreate the previous Fallout games at the same time.
Second, to do more with less. There's just so much _stuff_ in the damn game. We could have managed with a lot less (less weapons, less items, less missions) and put in more polish.
GB: Finally, what was your favorite role when creating a character in Fallout Tactics? (My character functioned mainly as a skirmisher/ambusher, for example.)
Ed: I had pretty much the same character for my main guy as yourself, with the (small frame) and (finesse) traits. But it was a squad-based game, so I always had a sniper or two standing off at a reasonable range and I'd coordinate their attacks to start at the same time. Then I had a decent medic/lockpicker, and a couple of short-range bruisers to put through doorways if I couldn't sneak into a room.
And I never personally used drugs . well maybe I tried some Voodoo, but I didn't inhale?
Thanks for your time, Ed!
